Foundations of Education

1. Foundations of Education Knowledge and the History of Ideas in the West

2. Main Traditions of Knowledge

3. Acquisition of Knowledge in History Acquiring knowledge vas very difficult because: • Only few people had the leisure to do so • There were very few resources • Communication was poor • One could easily be persecuted for one’s knowledge, ideas, or convictions

4. “History is more or less bunk” (Henry Ford, 1916) “What experience and history teach us is this: that people and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it” (Hegel, 1770-1831)

5. Outline • Hebrew Education • Greek Education • The Middle Ages • The Renaissance/Reformation • The Enlightenment • From the 19th Century to the Modern Period

6. Hebrew Education • Religious instruction • Literacy and numeracy • Memorization • Survival Talmud: “One must have as much respect for the teacher as for God”

7. Greek Education • Sparta education = military training • Athens intellectual curiosity, art

8. Greek Education Protagoras (481-411 BC) • Sophist = teacher of excellence (consultant) • Rhetoric = correct use of language • Agnosticism and relativism “Man is the measure of all things”

9. Greek Education The Socratic Method: • Induction • Deduction • Aporia • Dialectic Socrates (469-399 BC)

10. Greek Education • Visible world as illusion • World of ideas as reality • Truth is absolute • Rulers must have knowledge “philosopher-kings” Plato (428-348 BC)

11. Greek Education • Logic as main tool in the search for knowledge • Natural science • Rhetoric as the art of persuasion • Writing becomes as important as speech Aristotle (384-322 BC)

12. Greek Education Spread of Greek culture Spread of Hellenistic culture (circa 400 BC) (circa 250 BC)

13. Greek Education • Museum and library • Emphasis on the written word • Beginnings of modern scholarship • Foundations of modern grammar Alexandria

14. From the Hellenistic World to the Roman World

15. The Dark Ages (500-1000) Irish monasticism Charlemagne (742-814) Alfred the Great (849-899)

16. The Middle Ages (1000-1500) • Education in the hands of the Church • Transmission of written knowledge • By 1400 there were about 400 grammar schools in England and Wales for a population of 2.5 million (i.e. 1 school per 6,000) • Scholasticism = education of Christian thinkers A mediaeval scriptorium

17. The Middle Ages (1000-1500) • Birth of the University • Disputation instead of passive learning

18. The Middle Ages (1000-1500) • Latin as language of education • The seven liberal arts: triviumquadrivium grammararithmetic rhetoricgeometry logicastronomy music • Wandering scholars and goliards

19. The Middle Ages (1000-1500) By 1500 there were 79 universities in Europe

20. The Middle Ages (1000-1500) Powerful influence of the Muslim world and its universities • Mathematics: Arabic numerals, the cipher (0), algebra, algorithms, etc • Geography: measurement of the Earth, which the Arabs decided was round • Chemistry: alcohol, sulphuric acid, etc • Medicine: dissections, sophisticated surgery, etc Illustration: Anatomy of the Eye (1200 AD), by al-Mutadibih

21. The Republic of Letters (RespublicaLiteraria) from 1500 to 1800 • An informal, international community of scholars • Communication through letters, pamphlets, exchange of books and documents • Publication of the first learned journals: essays and book reviews • Creation of academies (outside of universities), which legitimized the Republic of Letters; e.g.: • AcadémieFrançaise, Paris, 1635 • Royal Society for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, London, 1660 • American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1743

22. The Renaissance (16th century) • Powerful monarchs Henry VIII Francis I Charles V (England) (France) (Habsburg Empire) • Rise of nationalism • Colonialism

23. The Renaissance (16th century) Humanism: “Nihilhumani a me alienumputo” Pico dellaMirandola Erasmus Juan Luis Vives (1463-1494) (1466-1536) (1493-1540)

24. The Reformation (16th century) • Martin Luther (1483-1546) and mass literacy • Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560) a Protestant humanist

25. The 17th Century John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) -the first professional educator- • Pansophia (=universal knowledge): broad factual knowledge + flexibility of mind needed to visualize processes and connections • Author of several pioneering textbooks, including OrbisSensualiumPictus, the first illustrated book for children • Frontiers of knowledge are felt to be beyond a lifetime’s work

26. The Enlightenment Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) • Emile, or: On Education: education must enable “natural man” to survive in a corrupt society • His political philosophy influenced the American Revolution (1775-1783) and the French Revolution (1789-1799) • Condorcet (1743-1794) • Equality of opportunity • Development of individual potential • Permanent progress based on education • Respect of intellectual freedom

27. The Enlightenment Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827) • Greatly inspired by Rousseau • Considerable practical experience • Perception must be sharpened by education • Motivation must be awakened • Importance of physical education

28. The Enlightenment Among the first feminists… Mary Wollstonecraft Olympe de Gouges (1759-1797) (1748-1793) Militated for educational Fought for women’s and social equality for rights; ended up at women the guillotine

29. The 19th Century Albertine Necker de Saussure (1766-1841) • Children have an innate propensity for mischief • They should be guided through religious instruction • Female education should not be subordinated to male education • Girls too need a liberal education to become responsible citizens

30. The 19th Century • Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835) Linguist and architect of the Prussian education system, he emphasized learning as constant interaction between the individual and nature • Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) Naturalist and explorer, he advocated the conjoining of all the physical sciences (holism) and worked with the most up-to-date scientific instruments

31. The 19th Century Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841) Developed the “philosophy of mind” (now called psychology) and distinguished 5 steps in teaching: • Preparation: relates new material to child’s experience • Presentation: always concrete • Association: of new knowledge with existing one • Generalization: stretching the mind beyond concrete level • Application: the new knowledge becomes functional

32. The 20th Century John Dewey (1859-1952), educational reformer • Education is a social and interactive process: the school is a social institution which can promote social reform • Students must be allowed to experience and interact with the curriculum: experiential learning • Students must be able to relate new information to previous experience “The teacher is not in the school to impose certain ideas […] but as a member of the community to select the influences which shall affect the child”

33. The 20th Century Maria Montessori (1870-1952), founder of the Montessori Method • The child possesses an “absorbent mind” and an enormous capacity for repetition in order to acquire competence • The child should be viewed as a competent being and encouraged to make decisions • Education must create a scale of sensitive periods of development to provide class work that is appropriate and stimulating • Ongoing curricula must be based on ongoing observations of children Education should not only impart knowledge, but also maximize human potentialities

34. The 20th Century Paulo Freire (1921-1997), advocate of critical pedagogy • Experienced poverty and hunger in Brazil, and witnessed huge rates of illiteracy –- hence turned to Marxism • Education should allow the oppressed to regain their humanity: it is a political act • The dichotomy teacher/student should become a cooperation between “teacher who learns” and “learner who teaches” “Men and women are able to take responsibility for themselves as beings capable of knowing –- of knowing that they know and knowing that they don’t”

35. Conclusion 1 • Today’s cheap, universal access to knowledge through electronic media does not guarantee the progress of knowledge • A look at history reminds us that we should never take what we know for granted: • Fads come and go • Intolerance and persecution have never quite vanished • There is governmental and corporate censorship • Knowledge can disappear

36. Conclusion 2 Information is different from knowledge • Information represents data organized to describe a particular situation (we can recall information) • Knowledge represents data and concepts accumulated over time (we cannot recall knowledge)